JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (Appea) on Monday called for the newly developed Energy White Paper Issues Paper to enhance Australia’s international competitiveness.

In December, Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane released an Issues Paper to kick off consultation on the Australian government’s Energy White Paper.

The Issues Paper was centred around reducing cost pressures on households and businesses, and included security of energy supplies, regulatory reform and energy productivity, as well as growth and investment to maintain Australia’s competitive position, trade and international relations, workforce productivity and alternate sources of energy to diversify the nation’s energy mix.

Submissions closed on February 7.

“Australia’s next Energy White Paper must ensure Australia’s oil and gas companies are not disadvantaged against overseas competitors or against producers of other energy sources in Australia,” Appea CEO David Byers said in the organisation’s submission.

“Australia has more than enough natural gas to service both domestic and export markets for decades,” he said, but without the right policy framework, investment in exploration and production would likely “dwindle” and further resources would remain undeveloped.

Australia’s high-cost environment would make maintaining competitiveness in “the face of” rising global competition, particularly from East Africa and North America, a “major” challenge.

Appea said efficient domestic energy markets, market-based energy policy and tax and industrial relations reform were necessary for the industry to develop new supply needed to meet rising demand.

“The right policy framework would remove unnecessary barriers to continued investment in exploration and production and enable the industry to increase domestic gas supplies while also delivering its $200-billion pipeline of investment in liquefied natural gas export projects,” Byers explained.

The organisation’s submission noted that to ensure secure and competitively priced energy, the policy framework should deliver access to oil and gas resources for viable exploration and development; access to domestic and international markets on internationally competitive terms; a fiscal, policy and regulatory framework that facilitated long-term investment in exploration, development and production; and a workplace relations framework that encouraged productivity and flexibility.